While Sharks prepare to face Boston, Dan Boyle rejoins team and talks about the hit and his history

BOSTON – Normally, I’d be writing about what promises to be a potentially exciting game tonight between the NHL’s only team without a regulation loss and the Boston Bruins.

There’d be a mention of how the 8-0-1 Sharks are undefeated in four games at TD Garden since that November 2005 trade that brought Joe Thornton to San Jose. There’d be more about the first-time NHL battle of the Hamilton brothers – forward Freddie for the Sharks, defenseman Dougie for the Bruins (and we will get to a little more on that later).

But in the cosmic scheme of things, all that becomes secondary to the fact Dan Boyle returned to the ice, practicing with the team. No, he’s not playing tonight – his defense partner during some of the drills this morning was Larry Robinson – but it was the first time any of us talked with him since that nasty hit on Oct. 15 in St. Louis.

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The newsier part of what he had to say is in the online story filed here

But Boyle also tried to put this injury in perspective with the few serious ones he’s had over the years.

He talked about dealing with what he referred to as a concussion at one point, then backtracked:

“With concussions, you just have to be careful. And when I say concussion, I haven’t actually been told that I’ve officially had one. Still kind of waiting on more results form the doctors and more feedback on what they saw.

“I know what you guys know, I got knocked out and it’s just a matter of making sure that I have no symptoms and I’m OK going forward in order to get back in the lineup.”

Then he talked about a similar injury in December 2003 when he was with Tampa Bay, and how it stayed with him even when he was back on the ice..

“It’s happened to me once before, when I was in Tampa years ago. I remember being pretty nervous coming back, and I ended up getting hit on the first shift. It was a pretty violent hit, but I didn’t feel anything.

“Not until that point could I have said I was OK, so I’m assuming it’s going to be the same kind of thing where I’ll probably be pretty nervous, and that’s natural, until I get out on the ice and probably get hit for the first time again. Hopefully some of that stress will go away and I’ll get back to normal.”

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Then he drew other comparisons to that earlier hit.

“I was knocked out the last time around and I missed four games. A week, seven days exactly. Some guys get clipped, never miss a shift, and then end up feeling symptoms for months. Just because it looked worse doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be worse. I’m hoping that’s the case. It’s day-to-day. They’re just making sure that I’m not waking with any sort of head issue or anything like that. We’re being precautious at this point.”

Boyle, by the way, said he didn’t remember who gave him that previous concussion. Selective amnesia or protecting the perp?

The Sharks defenseman did say he watched the hit he took from Lapierre right away.

“Everybody’s different. I certainly wanted to find out how it happened. I’ve been in this league for a long time and a big reason is because I don’t put myself in those types of situations, where I’m susceptible to those kinds of hits,” Boyle said. “That’s why I wanted to see it. I still have a hard time believing that it actually happened.”

****With the Boston media descending on him, Freddie Hamilton fielded another round of questions about what it’ll be like facing his younger brother, Dougie.

This will be the first time the two have competed against each other in what the Sharks rookie forward called a “real game.” Hockey already has tales of brothers who made it to the NHL after fighting with each other their entire lives, but Freddie said that wasn’t the case, that he had a great relationship with his brother.

The fact that Dougie (born June 17, 1993) made to the NHL before Freddie (born Jan. 1, 1992) wasn’t a problem for him, the Sharks forward said, repeating what he told me earlier, that it was probably harder on his younger brother.

Dougie Hamilton’s career now consists of 48 regular season NHL games (7 goals, 11 assists) and a stint in the playoffs. Freddie is 47 behind him.

And, again, the parents will be there.

****McLellan said it was “good chance” that Mike Brown would play his first game as a Shark tonight after being acquired Monday from the Edmonton Oilers.

“We brought him in. we want him to feel comfortable and part of the team right off the bat so he can provide us some energy,” the Sharks coach said. “We’ll let him play, then work with him and his game and make sure it fits ours.”

Based only on line rushes at the morning skate, James Sheppard could be the player who sits with Brown in the lineup. That’d be too bad for off-ice reasons as his father and several of his buddies made the drive from Halifax, N.S., to watch the Sharks forward. The group plans to follow him to Montreal and Ottawa as well.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

your lack of hockey IQ is showing but that is ok. There is a large amount to learn, You will learn with time. For now we ask that you focus on mastering these 2 rules:

#1 Wait till a stoppage in play before leaving or returning to your seat.

#2 Please refrain from leaning forward in your seat during game play.

We Thank You

FreeWorld

I’ll lean when ever I feel like it. Of course you should not get up
during play but leaning is not a that big a deal and you need to work
out your control issues. Many people have back issues and you will not
be determining my body position.

Gilfan

Sorry buddy, leaning forward blocks viewing, especially along the boards closest to you. Stay at home and lean forward if can’t watch any other way. They even mention it before each game.

Buddy Elf

#3 And no, I will not explain icing to you *again*.

GP_hockeyhappens

I sympathize with your back issues. But, when you go to the game, find the seats with the wall behind you.

People that have paid hard earned money for their tickets don’t care about your back. They are entitled to see the game. That goes for the 1-4 rows behind you.

The rule/etiquette is there for a reason, and it’s a private venue, so, you don’t have the right to do anything you want.

GP_hockeyhappens

Personally, I’d leave Sheppard in instead of McCarthy.

GP_hockeyhappens

I was away and hadn’t watched the 4th game of season in Vancouver. There were two things that stood out when I finally watched — only because I knew about the game.

1) an awesome tweet that Randy read in the 3rd period…”NHL announced a 5 game suspension to Raffi Torres for Edler’s hit to the head on Thomas Hertl.” Funny sarcasm…

2) Observation: even when Jumbo shoots the puck at an empty net it turns out to be a pass. LOL. Burns scored that empty netter.

Phat Stat Phil

I’ve had to ask plenty of people to sit back because their head blocked the entire goal when they leaned forward. There’s a reason they mention it in the pre-game in every arena in the NHL.

Phat Stat Phil

I don’t mind the addition — especially given what we gave up for him — but I’m curious why you like him.

He doesn’t seem to have a scoring touch at all. Defensively, he might be OK. His +/- is around 0 every season. He’s good for about 2 PIMs a game.

He’s a rental — his contract’s up after this year — so I don’t think
it’s necessarily something to duplicate what Burish brings to the table
and then trade Burish.

From every angle, he looks like a plug to me. Maybe he provides benefit in terms of willingness to drop the gloves — we’ve had a few rough games recently where that might be welcome — but apart from that, the only advantage I see is that he’s taking up space that we’ve been giving to prospective NHL players.

Hawk Valentine

This is gonna be a year of several different looking lineups. The early dominant one, even without Raffi is nice. We are moving to one without Boyle and Burns and including Freddie and Brown. Wont be as dominant as evidenced lately. Then we will get The Monster and Boyler back then Torress and maybe even the porcelin doll. What happens to Olympic participants? Wll they be tired or prone to injury? Will the break ruin a hot streak for team or provide healing and regrouping time. The deadline is March 5, right after the break. Then trades and pickups before deadline. Do they work out like last year or backfire as they have a few times? The lineup we end up with in March may be very different from the hot start Sharks. I have a feeling that The Sharks will maingain an overall focus that will lead to consistency because Jumbo, Boyker and Patty are all in contract years and have come fairly close and not won it all and this probably the last best shot at it eapecially with Pa and cooch ready to take over and the new young kids looking good. The recipe for a great season is in place. So far the distractions of a BS suspension to Stuey and a dirty hit injury to Boyle and double bad luck to Burns and injury to Raffi haven’t taken away the focus. They are deep, fast, big, skilled, tough enough, solid on blueline and in net. I beleive, for once, that the system, roster makeuo and intangibles are present. We shall see.

And why make a sock puppet account?? You could have just responded with your real account.

FreeWorld

Sit straight, don’t move your arms or legs. Look forward, no talking and you are being tracked at all times. What a great times we live in!

stevedrummer

Leaning is a big deal. I have a back problem also, but put something behind my back if I don’t get the upper row seat.

ZEKE

5 periods without Brent Burns, 5 periods without a goal. We’re playing well, but it does feel like the sort of game that could get stolen from us.

Phat Stat Phil

Post the same comment again! It’s working for us!

Phat Stat Phil

You guys know how I am about players ending the career of other players. It took me a bit to verify this, but as we can see, not just one shot, but FOUR DIFFERENT SHOTS by Hertl were contributing factors in Biron’s decision to hang ’em up for good.

Not sure why the Sharks stopped forechecking halfway through the 3rd, but it came back bite them.

Dirty

That was frustrating as hell.

Stevo

Let’s hope the boys learn the lesson of never letting up until after the period/play ends. Can’t win by coasting across the finish line.

Disappointing.

Buddy Elf

Marleau always coming through… The rest of the team needs to as well.

spooky

this loss stings. big time. 0.8s.

renoshark

Yep, Stevo. Huge blown opportunity. Especially against a team that was playing a back-to-back. At the minimum we should have left TD Garden tonight with at least 1 point. Will we find any offense this road trip? If not, it will be a 1-4 road trip.

Stevo

Potentially on the bright side (for me anyway), the Cards are up 1-0 on the Sox. I hope they can close out a BOS sports team tonight.

Buddy Elf

Can we go a game without someone getting injured? The constant changing of lines has to be a factor.

ZEKE

With a minute or so to go, I was saying how neither team had an incentive to win in regulation — just play conservative by grinding it out, eat time and play the OT for the extra point.

Its not the way these guys think. And it cost the Sharks a point, maybe 2.

Phat Stat Phil

Given the comparison and the fact that they’re both competing for the starting slot on the Finnish national team, I’ve gotta figure it’s Rask’s to lose. Niemi’s play has been characterized by problems moving laterally — especially on missed shots that come out the other side. Niemi’s had a few close calls there — it wouldn’t surprise me if teams like Chicago start trying to make plays that way. Plays like that Iginla goal help drive the point home too.

That’s not to take anything away from Nemo. I think Niemi’s probably better at scrambling for second & third shots, but I think Rask is ultimately better on that first save. I’m going to take a look at the stats and see what they say.

Stevo

Don’t forget that Marleau scored off a puck that bounced to his side of the crease. That’s a tough save for any goalie; his mates are supposed to clear the rebounds or tie up the bad-guys’ sticks.

FWIW, Rask has a better sv% than Nemo this young season.

Stevo

Am I the first to reply to myself? heh,heh… Someone needs to test Big Papi for steroids again.

..now back to hockey…

Owen

Hope Charra enjoys his unpaid vacation

Matthew

Reno, given the line jumbling once Tommy went down, and already missing Burns and Boyle, it made it way tougher…I thought we looked tired in the 3rd and dodged bullets…of course, giving up a goal that late is a gut punch…but I’m not sure I agree with the term “huge”

ZEKE

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.

Suspensions NEED to be served vs the player/team that was impacted by the act. LaPierre cost us Boyle, but StL isn’t in our division. But during LaPierre’s suspension, they play Vancouver, who is in our division. So that not only hurt us with the loss of the player, it also hurt us because StL is weakened vs our division rivals (they play tomorrow). We get hurt twice.

Now with Chara, yeah he deserves a game or two off for his late hit on Wingels. But he should serve that the next time (or times) we play them — or the next time he plays vs Wingels if he’s traded to another team.

Obviously, this cuts both ways. Brad Stuart’s suspension should have been served against the Rangers/Rick Nash — even if it takes a couple years to complete it.

The idea came from the Bertuzzi hit years ago — he should have been banned from ever playing again vs Colorado for what he did to Steve Moore. Because that is the team that got harmed (and probably should be banned from playing against any of the Moore brothers).

Serve the suspensions against the team and player that got harmed.

J B

High hits on Wingles and Hertl and no calls–Does Chara get to play by a different set of rules in this league? He must have a heck of an agent.

I didn’t record it to review, but at the time it seemed like Chara actually jumped up before making the hit on Wingels…I had to wonder why anyone 6-9″ needs more height for a hit on anyone smaller than a Zamboni.

icehole

Krecji was Thornton’s guy, Jumbo was slow off the boards and really made no attempt to get to him in front of the net… Unforgivable lazy play with a couple seconds left in a tie game… also Nemo has been great all season but those were 2 5-hole goals that should NEVER go in! Iginla’s especially, yeah you can’t really blame the goalie on deflections like the winner, BUT Nemo has got to at least cover the 5-hole a little better with his stick in that situation… He moved out towards Krecji as the shot came from the point, and his stick control was sloppy, off to the side when it should have been on the ice between his pads, if it was, the puck does not go in, simple as that…

G-bum-man

Yes, to answer your question, apparently Chara is the new Pronger–immune from calls that would send other players to the box.